VR and the Future of Remote Work
— Nick Herr commenting on the announcement of the new Meta Quest Pro:
This is clearly an area Zuckerberg is passionate about to a truly painful degree. So far, though, the best use case — the best use case — for even the more credulous believers is meetings. I cannot imagine buying dedicated expensive hardware for meetings, but I am probably not in the right market; two-and-a-half years into working from home and I still have not bought a ring light. Regardless, that sounds pretty dull. Are businesses champing at the bit to have staff sit in a virtual board room instead of just on a call? Is this solving a meaningful problem for them?
It is not. But enough people will believe it is. Over the last couple of years, when remote work became more mainstream, people perceived the lack of gadgets as the reason remote work is difficult.
Three months into the pandemic, LinkedIn was full of posts of people showing off the latest crap they bought. When remote work sucks, it’s because the images are pixelated, the lighting is terrible, and our voices aren’t clear enough. And so we use our prime memberships to buy gadgets: a better webcam, a ring light, and a radio-grade microphone.
None of this will make you communicate better. Not a webcam, not a microphone or better lighting. And certainly not a digital representation of yourself in a virtual world.
Nevertheless, VR will play a role in the future of remote work. Not that it solves an actual problem, but because it’s inevitable. Managers in suits will see this and think, ‘maybe that will sort out the disconnect we’re feeling.’